The Herald challenged Hart's responses to its report that a Miami woman, Donna Rice, spent Friday night and much of Saturday at the former senator's town house in Washington.

In a speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. convention on Tuesday, Hart denied that Rice had stayed overnight, and also said that the Herald's story "was written by reporters who, by their own admission, undertook a spotty surveillance, reached inaccurate conclusions based on incomplete facts--who, after publishing a false story, now concede they may have gotten it wrong."

In its editorial, titled "Now the Cover-up," the Herald challenged Hart's statements.

"In fact, on Saturday night outside his home, Herald reporters repeatedly asked Mr. Hart to identify and let them interview the woman they had seen him with on Friday night and Saturday. He refused," the editorial said.